Lit-by-Linda

08/09/2025

Please read and upvote my answer to this Quora question.

Linda "iLham" Barto's answer: Halal slaughtering is considered the most humane way of killing a food animal. The animal must be calmed by caressing and comforting and fed from the hand, must be blindfolded to prevent it from seeing other animals slaughtered if that is the case, and the blood vess...

07/23/2025

For more information, read my book "The Bible and the Qur'an at the Edge of Renaissance."

Linda "iLham" Barto's answer: The Arabic word ijtihad can be translated to ‘logic’ or ‘judgment’. Following the Qur’an and Sunnah (examples of the Prophet), it is the third source of Islamic principles. On being appointed Governor of Yemen, Mu’adh was asked by Prophet Muhammed (peace upo...

07/12/2025

Don't Put God in a Box

I don't claim a sect or denomination because sectarianism puts God's truth in boxes of our own making. All truth is God's truth, and we should accept it wherever it is. I am able to accept any truth I find in any sect or religion. I am suddenly a Christian, a Jew, a Bahai, a Hindu, a Sikh, or any other religious person that has a layer of light to share. Ultimately, my religion is Islam, which means 'peace with God through complete submission to Him'. That is the original religion given to Adam and Eve. All other religions of light are expressions of that concept.

07/05/2025

God produces the world by necessity in the same way an inanimate object like the sun produces its light by its very nature.

Think on the creation of God and not on the essence of God lest you will create an idol in your own mind.

06/27/2025

We can't be "one nation under God" until we stop hating one another because we have different perceptions of God.

06/19/2025

Find joy in the world around you and try to avoid the negativity of some people. Get in touch with nature and rejoice in knowing the Creator. Don't let the heavy-handed people bring you down. If you can't uplift them, leave them to their misery.

05/10/2025

God created sound, and He made us in His creative image so that we may use sound, among other things, in beautiful creations of our own. That is why song and music are forms of honoring our Creator.

05/09/2025

When you use vulgar language, it's like a prayer for evil. It sends negative energy into the universe. The universe doesn't want it, so it sends negativity right back to you. Believers should speak words of positive energy so that their lives will absorb goodness.

05/08/2025

This is a prayer that I wrote.

Take, O God, all that I am and make it holy and pleasing in Your sight. Grant me patience as I struggle through the constant process of refinement. Teach my soul to see, hear, touch, taste, feel, laugh, and love in amazing ways as I experience new adventures in my daily walk with You. Amen.

05/07/2025

How did people get so filled with hate and anger? Americans should love and respect other Americans. Members of humanity should love and respect other members of humanity regardless of race, religion, culture, nationality, gender or any other aspect of pluralism. Earthlings should care about other Earthlings regardless of species. Members of the universe should care about the universe.

04/27/2025

At least 13 times, the Qur'an tells us to think, ponder, observe, and research. It doesn't tell us to follow scholars blindly. We are supposed to use our own brains, use logic, and figure things out for ourselves. Don't get stuck in dogma and give up your right to your own brain. Test what scholars say with what the Qur'an says and what is congruent with the grace and mercy of God.

04/25/2025

Don't be so stuck in dogma that you can't consider another view. You can't grow in your spiritual life if you're afraid of finding truth in another believer's path. All truth is God's truth. Your job is to try and evaluate information and see if it fits within the realm of logic, grace, and mercy that are God's.